How to sell to CTOs at Gaming companies
CTOs at gaming companies are measured on the performance of their game titles, particularly user engagement and retention rates. They respond to outreach that clearly understands the technical challenges of scaling game infrastructure and improving player experience. Highlighting solutions that enhance game performance or reduce server downtime will capture their attention.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 544 gaming company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- server downtime during peak hours
- inability to scale infrastructure quickly
- high churn rates after game launch
- slow response to player feedback
The playbook
- 01
Identify studios launching new titles
Use platforms like Steam or the App Store to find game studios that are releasing new titles within the last month. These studios often face technical challenges and are more open to solutions that can enhance their game performance or resolve backend issues.
- 02
Analyze player feedback on recent launches
Look at player reviews and feedback on platforms like Metacritic or Reddit for the newly launched games. Identify common complaints related to technical issues or server stability that you can address in your outreach.
- 03
Connect through industry events
Research upcoming gaming conferences or webinars where CTOs are likely to speak or attend. Engage with them on social media before the event, and mention specific insights or challenges discussed during these events in your outreach.
- 04
Highlight case studies of similar studios
Prepare case studies that showcase how your solutions helped other gaming companies improve their server performance or reduce downtime. Tailor these case studies to reflect the specific challenges faced by the studio you are reaching out to.
- 05
Follow up after product announcements
Set a reminder to follow up with CTOs a week after they announce new game features or expansions. Reference their announcement in your email and suggest how your solutions can support the successful launch and ongoing performance of these new features.
Can gaming companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 544 gaming companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 11.5% of 1–10-person companies against 58.5% of the largest — 47 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Improving game performance
- Solutions for new game launches
- Enhancing player retention strategies
Questions
- Why do CTOs in gaming overlook outreach from vendors?
- CTOs in gaming often receive numerous outreach messages daily, which can lead to vendor fatigue. They may overlook messages that do not immediately address specific technical challenges or fail to demonstrate a clear understanding of the gaming industry's unique demands.
- What technical issues are gaming CTOs currently facing?
- Gaming CTOs frequently grapple with issues like server scalability, latency during high traffic, and integrating new technologies to enhance player experience. These challenges can hinder game performance and directly impact user retention.
- How can I demonstrate value to a gaming CTO?
- To demonstrate value, focus on specific outcomes such as reducing server load times or improving player engagement metrics. Use data and examples from similar gaming companies to illustrate how your solutions can address their unique challenges.
- What timing is best for reaching out to gaming CTOs?
- The best timing for outreach is typically a few weeks after a major game release or during industry events. At these times, CTOs are often evaluating performance and looking for solutions to immediate challenges, making them more receptive to new ideas.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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